The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

Soundings, Dec-14

The C&D Canal, linking the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, is one of the busiest in the United States. Although seemingly peaceful and quiet, the currents, weather, and marine traffic here can be deadly.

This article, in the December 2014 issue of Soundings, tells the story of the canal and provides some tips for a safe passage. It received a Merit Award in the  2014 BWI annual writing contest in the Travel & Destinations category.

 

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Video: Thanksgiving 2011 Transit of the C&D by the ATB Nicole Reinhauer, Capt. Bill Brucato on helm and video

 

Boating in Baltimore

Soundings, Nov-10

Baltimore is one of the most historic and boater-friendly destinations on the Chesapeake Bay. The city’s legendary Inner Harbor, guarded by Fort McHenry, has great marinas, more boat museums than you can visit in a day, and some great neighborhoods — as described in the November 2010 issue of Soundings magazine.

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The Constellation Cup

Feb-2010 Soundings

The USS Constellation — the last Civil War-era U.S. warship afloat — is the highlight of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. It helped the North win the war and fought the slave trade, seizing slave-ships off the coast of Africa and liberating their “cargo.” Every fall, its stewards hold a fundraising race: Sailboats race from Fort McHenry down the Patapsco River to the Francis Scott Key Bridge and back to the Inner Harbor.

This story, in the February 2010 issue of Soundings magazine, recounts the voyage of White Hawk, a 44-ft. Cherubini ketch, as it won the 2009 Constellation Cup. Reprinted by permission of Soundings.

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Boats and the Flag

Soundings, July 2009

Boats played a key role in the evolution of “the flag” as a national symbol. During the War of 1812, a fleet of British warships sailed from Bermuda to terrorize the Chesapeake Bay, sack and burn Washington, DC, and attack Baltimore Harbor.  It was the success of Fort McHenry in defending Baltimore in 1814 that led Francis Scott Key to write his famous poem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” (from the deck of a sailboat). It took another hundred years before one stanza of that poem was adopted by Congress as our national anthem.

A separate and slightly less famous flag, “Old Glory,” was flown around the world on the stern of an American whaling ship.

The thread of Boats and the Flag is explored in the July 2009 issue of Soundings. This story won an honorable mention in the 2010 Boating Writers International writing contest.

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